A red dye used in lipstick will kill fruit flies if they eat it and are then
exposed to ultraviolet light. The Agricultural Research Service of the US
Department of Agriculture has found a way to induce the flies to eat the dye, by
blending it with a mixture of sugars, proteins and some enigmatic “other
ingredients”. Beneficial insects such as bees ignore the mixture. In tests in
Hawaii and Texas the dye killed almost all the fruit flies preying on citrus,
mango and other fruit crops.
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